Calastone, the provider of electronic distribution for the mutual fund industry, has signed GLG Partners, one of the largest European alternative asset managers to its platform.

It is the latest in a flurry of fund providers that have linked to the indepnendent, cross-border system. The service is a transaction network on which fund providers, distributors, wrap platforms, wealth managers, stockbrokers, transfer agents and hedge funds can transact their mutual funds irrespective of their size, geographic location, preferred messaging protocol, standard or technology.

The transaction network ‘normalises’ all messages to Calastone ISO 20022, whatever the preferred format of a participant, enabling the industry to become fully automated throughout the trading lifecycle. 

Calastone also announced on Monday that it is to launch a settlement system for mutual funds as an alternative to Euroclear CREST, on the back of written support from the fund industry.

Kevin Lee, managing director of Calastone, said he applauded GLG as the first manager in the alternatives market to sign up.

A spokesperson at GLG Partners added: “In our quest for increased automation and efficiency and to enable our clients to easily trade GLG’s mutual funds, Calastone’s offering is naturally appealing.  We have been impressed not only with the speed in which Calastone is signing up participants, but also its commitment to making the movement of funds in the mutual fund market more efficient.”